by Ed Shank

I went to work at University IGA at 25th and Hillside on my 16th birthday.  I couldn’t wait to start and make real money.  I had pestered the owner, Mr. Goering, for a job for weeks.  He was a stickler for the rules and kept insisting I wasn’t old enough.  Prior to “coming of work age,” I had been limited to throwing newspapers morning and evening and to whatever lawns I could mow in the summer, not to mention the babysitting jobs on Friday and Saturday.   As a sacker at the IGA store I earned $1.25 for every hour I worked, and I worked 50 hours a week stocking shelves, sorting pop bottles, and sacking groceries.  The only negatives came on Friday evenings, when I missed my high school events, and Sunday afternoons, when I’d be heading to work to face shelves and my friends would be heading to an area lake.  But after taxes I earned $55 a week, which allowed me to buy my first car, a 1960 Hillman Minx, for $440.  My car payments were $22 a month.  I paid off my loan at KSB&T 11 months early.

Approaching 62 years of age I’ve worked full time for 46 years.  I figure that I’ve worked over 10,000 days.  I’ve been in the advertising agency business for the past 35 years, 22 of them at Armstrong|Shank.

Life has been wonderful so far.  I’m privileged to spend most of my time around two of the people I treasure most – my life partner and wife, Kim, and my work partner and friend, Susan.  Both have tolerated my quirks and eccentricities.  Both have indulged my excesses and fed and encouraged my creative ego; when I was a young boy taking a long look at life through an adolescent prism fraught with insecurities and embarrassments real and imagined, I would never have believed anything so dear.  I’ve been loved and liked way beyond what I’ve deserved or returned in kind.  I’ve also experienced the joy of the company of two better copies of me than me – my sons Sylvan and Andrew.  When they were children I worried at the end of every day what I might have done to screw them up.  Now that they are mature men I’m relieved to say they are an important part of the hope for the future of mankind.  They are making the world a better place.  They are worthy of praise.

(An important side road: Something of no small importance that I’ve learned is that if a bird flies hard into a window and its neck is not broken it can often be saved.  Usually after striking the glass the bird lies stunned on the ground below.  If left in that posture it typically quietly passes away.  Gently placing the bird on its feet will revive it more often than not.  It might take 15 to 20 minutes for the bird to regain its senses and fly away, so be patient.  As I was writing this morning a goldfinch flew into my window.  I set her upright on a bed of faded leaves.  Following a fretful wait of about 20 minutes she flew into the welcome embrace of a frost-covered yew – the sun is shining brighter on my keyboard now.)

I’ve always lacked confidence in my creative abilities.  I’ve never felt good enough for the responsibilities with which I’m entrusted.  Successful people retain Armstrong|Shank at handsome fees to make their businesses even more successful. Our employees entrust me with their futures; they depend on me for direction that will secure better futures for them and their families.  That confession aside, what a lucky guy; people pay me to have fun every day.  The problems we’re given to solve require a talented team of professionals of diverse abilities. Every day is different.  Challenges are new and usually unexpected.  We get to learn about virtually everything over time.  On any given day we can name a new service, write an ad for a bank, or charity or Bible, counsel a client on the best response to manage a publicity crisis, have a creative meeting to design television spots for a national golf equipment company, meet the local newspaper editor for lunch, and review plans for modifying our own Web-based marketing service … whew.  Fun, huh?  When my boys were small and they’d ask me what I did at work all day and I tried to give them an honest answer, they didn’t believe me.  They’d look at Kim and ask if I was telling the truth.  She assured them that for once I wasn’t making stuff up.

At the end of February I will walk away from my life in advertising.  I will move on to other things.  To be good at what I’ve spent most of my adult life doing you need an insatiable curiosity.   I’ve put off “some day” for long enough.  It’s finally time for my time.

Here is the future: Picture a remote Irish cottage in the Flint Hills sixty feet above the west fork of Little Fall River.  There is a low dam with a veil of white water just below the house.  The water is clear because it is fed by springs pouring out of the limestone rocks.  Two dogs, an Irish terrier and a miniature schnauzer, awake me at 5 a.m. each morning wanting my company and, to be perfectly honest, they want out to patrol.  I make strong, black coffee and sip it while frying vegetarian bacon and planning my day.  Following breakfast I will spend a couple of hours in my garden of organic vegetables nestled on a gentle slope in the side yard.  The tall grass of the prairie is a few yards to my east and south and the dogs flush a covey of seven quail, with the terrier leaping five feet in the air in chase.  Once satisfied that the weeds in the garden are sufficiently at bay, I will hike up our lane to continue work on a dry stone wall bordering the morning side of our drive.  I will be following principles perfected in Europe over many centuries.  Lifting and positioning the stones for the waist-high wall is hard on my back and regrettably I’m forced to stop for a simple lunch after only a couple of hours.  The chilled crappie from our pond on a bed of fresh greens, with tomato, onion, and assorted herbs from our garden is a welcome respite.   The crisp pinot is a nice accompaniment.  Taking my fishing rod from the corner of the garage I beckon to the dogs.  While eating I’d noticed the cows feeding at the farm below.  The man who built the cottage was an accomplished outdoorsman.  He taught me years ago that when the cattle are feeding the wildlife is feeding.  Then is when you want to fish.   So we head to the pond about a hundred yards through the woods.  Using an ultralight rod and four-pound test on an open spinner reel I cast a Rapala® onto the still water.  As I crank the balsa lure it runs about eighteen inches beneath the surface.  When I’m halfway through the retrieve I see a spotted bass race from the depths to take my bait.  It hits the fake minnow hard and immediately runs for the cover of the weeds at the edge of the dam.  It’s a beautiful fish of about two pounds and will make a delicious dinner.  I will dispense with further details of my day other than to say it will include editing a movie on my Mac, studying birds or other fauna, hiking with the dogs, improving my cooking skills, and likely gazing through my telescope after dark.

It’s a simple life, I know, and that is the way I like it. To me, there is no place more beautiful or wonderful than the prairie and the hills. I will miss advertising. I will miss collaborating with people of supreme intellect and skill. But I don’t want to overstay my usefulness. I have hired people better than me. It is time for me to move on. It is your turn.  I hope you enjoy the ride.  I certainly did.

"Doctor" J.D. Patton talks with a visitor about healthy Web sites.

Armstrong|Shank’s Webstratics group recently participated in the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s KC Biz Live show at Union Station. It was kind of a micro-trade show, with each exhibiting company limited to a 30-inch round table instead of a full booth. Additionally, because the tabletop displays could not be more than 3 feet tall, a bit of creativity was required to stand out.

Our team decided it was time to play doctor and went with a medical theme. We donned white coats, grabbed some clipboards and got down to business. Our message was that we make Web sites a healthy part of an organization’s marketing plan.

By the end of the show we had met tons of new, interesting people, including several potential clients. And, we had great fun doing it.  Trade shows provide great networking opportunities.  Here are few tips for your next trade show experience:

1. Don’t let rules or setting keep you from getting the most out of the event. We had fun coming up with eye-catching strategies that still met the rules. We wanted to use every inch of space we could, while keeping things simple, yet interesting.  The main element of our space was a three-sided sign which highlighted the name “Webstratics.”  The design and unique name were intriguing enough that a number of attendees could not help but walk up and ask what Webstratics is.  For a bit of added attention-grabbing flair, we  topped things off with a flashing red light!
   

   "Doctor" Harrold-Albright listens to a visitor to the Webstratics booth at KC Biz Live

2. Think beyond the booth. We knew that once attendees were near our table, we would be able to engage them, but why confine ourselves to just that space? With two of us at the booth, we had a third “doctor” walk through the crowd, engaging attendees as well as fellow exhibitors.
3. Take it over the top. So, are we really doctors? Of course not. We don’t even play one on TV. But by embracing the theme, we had people coming up to the table just to figure out why we were dressed like characters out of Grey’s Anatomy. By going a bit “out there” with our concept, we became interesting to people and approachable.
4. Be thoughtful about your handouts. Everyone gives out candy at these types of shows, but we wanted to have a bit more fun.  So we took some tiny bottles of M&Ms and re-labeled them as “WWWs,” the perfect medication for an unhealthy Web strategy.  We also offered attendees a chance to win a free Website Wellness Exam.  By tailoring our handouts and incentives to our service offering, we helped people make a better connection with our brand.  By the end of the show the bartender at the mixer was asking for some Webstratics WWWs.

So, what are some of your trade show tips?  Please comment and share.

One common phrase used in the creative biz to describe the challenge of reaching your target audience is “cut through the clutter.” In a world of flashy, full-color ads, in-your-face “SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!” radio and big-budget TV, getting your message heard is a pretty tall task.

But what about in the Public Relations (PR) world? Everyone knows sending out press releases can be a great buzzbuilder for an upcoming newsworthy event, and between TV, radio and print media, there are plenty of outlets to help spread the word. But talk with Armstrong|Shank Director of Marketing Mark Chamberlin, and you might see that where PR is concerned, “cutting through the clutter” is often more of a literal challenge than a metaphorical one.

“Sometimes the editor’s desk is like a trash dump,” says Chamberlin, who served as assignment editor at KAKE-TV for five years. “Just stacks and stacks of papers and press releases and other leads. You may have crafted the greatest press release ever, but if the editor has 400 others to go through before he gets to yours, you may not get the timeliest of press coverage.”

That’s why Chamberlin recommends taking some of the creative thought that you’re used to putting into your other marketing efforts and applying it to your PR projects. For a desk editor who spends day after day sorting tediously through stacks of black-and-white letter-size printouts, that glow-in-the-dark paper maché octopus with your PR inside of it is not likely to get lost. When presenting at Armstrong|Shank PR seminars, Chamberlin’s favorite analogy is that of a tire in a landfill.

“Throw a tire into a trash dump, and what happens? It may start out buried, but it’s so hardy that amidst the constantly shifting landscape, it always works its way to the top.”

Example: When Wichita Mid-Continent Airport was holding a press conference after the launch of their “It’s A Breeze” campaign to introduce the new Courtesy Crew, Chamberlin and the Armstrong|Shank Advertising creative team wanted to make sure this customer-friendly move got the attention it deserved. They started by designing a colorful invitation, folded it into a paper airplane and inserted it into a plastic tube filled with cottony clouds to create a piece that captured the freedom of flight. They then delivered it to media outlets, along with an updated PR packet. It was a bright, fun piece, and judging by the attendance at the press conference, it successfully garnered attention.

While we encourage you to be a little creative with your PR, remember that the basic rules of PR still apply. The topic of your news release needs to be newsworthy, and there is no substitute for a PR practitioner who has a good and ongoing relationship with the media.

Our agency sets out aways from the hustle and bustle, on a nice patch of wooded area.  If you think about that Robert Frost poem about the two roads diverged in a yellow wood, the path to our agency is definitely down the road less traveled by.  Whether “that has made all the difference,” I’m not sure.  But it does make for a great creative environment.  For some reason, the ideas flow a little better when you look out your window and see a stand of  trees–or a family of raccoons, like in footage below captured out of one of our office windows.

What is certain is that, when it comes to effective advertising, it just might pay to take the road less traveled by.  Sure, there are plenty of ads out there that try to claim the same great things, and attempt to shout louder than the others.  For me, the most memorable ads, the calls to action that strike me, stand apart from the rest and go places the others don’t.

I’m a lucky guy. In my career I’ve had dozens of interns, and nearly every one of them has been a joy to coach and an asset to my employers.

Maddie Marney, Armstrong|Shank summer intern from May to August 2009, raised the bar for intern performance and pleasantness. She was fearless when challenged to do a task and voraciously receptive to any learning opportunity. We trust she found her time with us equally rewarding.

We asked Maddie to reflect on her summer with us, and here’s what she had to say.

Mark Chamberlin
Director of Marketing Services and New Marketing Development

By Maddie Marney

Before starting my summer internship here at Armstrong Shank, I had little knowledge of what it really meant to work in advertising. Of course, I have seen the movies and TV shows featuring fake all-powerful ad agencies that snag every nationwide billion dollar budget campaign, but no one tells the real stories behind this business.

Through my years of college classes as an advertising major, we are taught to think out of the box and how to work in an effective team. Though these are great things to learn, they are not the biggest challenges to face in this business. We should rather be taking classes such as, “Stubborn Clients 101″ or “Navigating Through Millions of Files,” which would seem more appropriate for the actual working world.

When asked to sum up my experience here, I dug through my brain for a way to do so that did not consist of just listing the amazing things I have gotten to do. I figured the only way to get my point across was to come up with some guidelines, or commandments if you will, for those interns that may follow me in the future.

1. Advertising is somewhat of a compromise between clients, account executives, and creatives, all who have different visions of what the ending product should be.

2. Always bring a sweater to client meetings; you never know when you are entering an icebox.

3. Good research is the key to any project put in front of you whether it is a print ad, a PR project, or anything else that comes your way. You may learn something you never thought you would know.

4. Always ask questions, whether they seem dumb or not, you might actually learn something valuable.

5. Always bring your lunch, because of the limited food options. The workers at the Sonic down the street have gotten to know me a little too well.

6. Don’t be offended when your projects go through several revisions, because you will be so much prouder of the end product.

7. Embrace the new technology, you may learn how Twitter really works.

8. And finally, be careful when asking someone if they need help, you may soon regret you asked.

Regardless of these words of wisdom, my time here at Armstrong Shank has allowed me to gain some insight into this exciting and fast-paced industry. I feel like I now have the knowledge to talk to future employers with ease, as well as finish off my senior year with gained enthusiasm for entering into the “real world of advertising.”

One of the benefits of the social media age is that reaching out to your audience is easier than ever before. This is beneficial for several reasons: One, you never have to suffer from “out of sight, out of mind” syndrome. Cultivate a strong following through an outlet like Twitter, for example, and you’ll always be fresh in your followers’ minds.

You can also use social media as an invaluable image tool. If your online research indicates that there’s an unfortunate perception of your company, you can use social media as a way to chip away at that perception.

For example, I’m a Kansas City Chiefs fan. Over the last few years, fans like me haven’t had much to cheer about. Before the 2007 season, the front office failed to anticipate the decline of key players on the roster, and the team nosedived to a dismal 4-12 record. It got even worse during the 2008 season when the team’s plan to build for the future by letting younger players learn on the job resulted in an even worse 2-14 record.

Thanks to those spectacular failures, a very vocal segment of Chiefs fans and writers lashed out, deriding everyone from the coaching staff to the front office as morons or worse. In some cases, they went so far as to claim that the front office responsible for acquiring players and building the team was making personnel decisions based on ensuring the organization’s profitability, and not out of a desire to give fans the kind of winning team they could be proud to root for.

I’ve been a diehard Chiefs fan since the 1980s, and this was the most negativity I’d seen toward the team and, more specifically, the people running it.

To the Chiefs’ credit, they’ve made moves to rectify both the on-field and off-the-field issues. To reboot the football operation, Chiefs Chairman of the Board Clark Hunt disposed of a number of front office employees and coaching staff members and aggressively assembled a new staff of the best and brightest.

If the comments I’ve seen on various Chiefs-related forums are any indication, those moves helped engender a little faith in the football side of the organization. They’ve also used the power of social media to combat some of the negative stereotypes that have plagued the organization in recent years.

They’ve introduced a new blog on their Web site, manned by an up-and-coming writer hired to bring new energy and a new perspective. They’ve employed Twitter to give fans a steady stream of updates into the Chiefs’ day-to-day operations. They’ve introduced Chiefs 365, an online message board where fans can stay connected to each other and the team, and a number of other fan-driven features to the site. And look no farther than this gem for proof that they’ve truly embraced the power social media has in dispelling the image of an organization gone stale:

Now THAT is great. It’s funny, it’s current, and it is strikingly different than anything I’ve seen out of the Chiefs in 20 years. And while the truth is that it will still take wins on the football field to truly reignite the fan base, for an organization intent on recreating itself in the eyes of its fans, they’ve already punched in a touchdown or two.

When people first learn that I work in advertising, they often become enthusiastic. They want to talk about television commercials – the ones they love, and the ones they hate.

Then, they want to talk about Bewitched, or one of the dozens of other television shows and movies featuring ad agencies.

They want to know if we play most of the day. They ask if our clients buy every idea we present. And, they need to know what celebrities we have met over the years.

Sometimes, my new acquaintances say how exciting it must be to work in advertising.

They are right, of course. Even after many years, I still find our business fascinating. But, what I really love about the business is the part that rarely gets mentioned.

Recently, I had an opportunity to talk with a tulip grower in Amsterdam. We arrived just a week or so too late to see the glorious blooms of these famous flowers. So, I asked the grower – where are the tulips? He assured me that the plants were right on schedule, and the bulbs were ready to harvest. His response was a good one.

“For us,” he said. “It’s all about the bulbs.”

“Aha,” I thought. That isn’t so different from our business. Everyone wants to see the color…the show…the magic.

But, for those of us in the advertising business, it’s all about the story.

It’s about capturing the essence of a business, telling their story in an engaging way, and producing a desired action.

Yes, we have fun in our jobs. But, we work hard, too.
We meet well-known personalities. But, they tend to be real people underneath.
We present many ideas to our clients. Some they like. Others they reject.

In the end, it doesn’t matter how many dollars we spend to produce a dazzling TV commercial, or how much media we buy to reach the masses, or how many “clicks” we generate over the Internet. If the story isn’t right, the rest of the dollars are wasted.

That’s why, when people ask me what we do, I tell them simply: We are storytellers.

Of course, this is all from a writer’s perspective. Our graphic designers, media buyers and Internet marketers might tell something else is more important than the message.

The clients? Clients will say they just want results. But that’s another story.

All of the major social media players have seen strong to explosive growth over the last 12 months. Mainstays of the social media world, MySpace and Flickr have produced modest to flat growth. Latecomers Facebook  and Linkedin posted strong triple digit growth over the last 12 months, with Facebook overtaking MySpace, in terms of unique visits, in December 2008. Currently, Facebook leads all social media sites with over 90 million unique visits in the month of March 2009. However, the story of the last 12 months is Twitter, whose explosive growth of over 1,000%, bringing their May 2009 unique visitor count to just under 20 million.

A brief snapshot of visitor trends in the major social media players.

What does this all mean?
While advertisers and marketing brand managers scratch their heads trying to figure out how to integrate social media into their campaigns, some standards of traditional marketing still stand strong. Media is judged on demographics, geographic proximity, and overall audience size. We should always strive to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time.

Not all social media sites are the same. While there are many multi-site social media consumers, it is becoming clear that the loyal MySpace user is different from the loyal Facebook user. Twitter seems to be more commonly used with the Facebook crowd. However, with no clear plan in place to monetize and buy out bids from Google and Facebook in the news every other week, Twitter’s future business model is still unclear. Linkedin, though currently trailing the aforementioned in terms of monthly visitors, appeals to the niche of business, sort of a 21st century Rotary Club.

Business objectives should be considered and benefits weighed against the resources needed to establish and maintain a proper presence on any of these channels.

What to do?
Each social media site has its own strengths and weaknesses. For instance Facebook has the largest overall audience. Brands that have done the best have built a grass roots following within that network. Friends see other friends become “fans” of the brand and join in. Another powerful feature of this property is the ability to reach this audience with timely, relevant invitations to promotional events, such as a person’s favorite local music group playing at a coffee shop that they frequent. In short, Facebook is not the largest because they appeal to everyone with one thing. They appeal to lots of small groups with many things. Brands wanting to leverage this property should be patient and let the grass roots nature of this site run its course.

With just under 60 million visitors in May 2009, MySpace is still a force to be reckoned with.   Though their traffic has flattened out, they have a core audience that you will not find on Facebook. Their ability to target specific demographics makes MySpace a superior site for banner ad campaigns. This ability to target demographics, combined with their, still, massive audience should be appealing to most B2C brands.

As for Twitter, this is the first social media platform that has built itself upon the least common denominator of electronic communication, the short text message. The brilliance in the design of this site is the simplicity of participation, a la Google search. Brands that particiate in this channel need to be prepared for a much more interactive relationship with their audience, taking the good with the bad.

Linkedin seems to have the market in online business networking. Their resume-like profiles are an excellent way to filter and recruit new tallent into your organization. Additionally, Linkedin can be an excellent resource for figuring out if you have a person “on the inside” when interviewing for a job, or making a sales presentation.

In my ten years in advertising, I’ve helped sell health and wealth, college and knowledge, loans and phones, parts and charts, houses for spouses, flights and Web sites, crosses and sauces, tools and jewels and many other things that don’t happen to rhyme.

But I’ve never sold nothing.

What I mean is, I’ve never worked with a client who is so high up in the business stratosphere that there wasn’t a desperate need to focus their advertising on the benefits of their product or service because everyone on the planet already knows who they are and what they do.

Example: Nike. I’m trying to recall the last time I saw a Nike TV spot that pushed the supportiveness, comfort and athletic advantages their shoes provide. The ones I remember are built around superstar athletes (Michael Jordan), multi-talented superstar athletes (two-sport star Bo Jackson), freakish displays of talent by superstar athletes (Tiger Woods doing unbelievable tricks with his wedge and a golf ball), theme park rides conceptually based on the abilities of superstar athletes (The Michael Vick Experience), puppets of superstar athletes (2009’s Kobe Bryant and LeBron James spots, as well as the Li’l Penny spots from the ‘90s), and more. I think you get my drift. They’re entertaining spots, but even Spike Lee as iconic Nike spokesman Mars Blackmon would have to admit I’m right on this one — something is making Nike a ton of money, AND IT’S NOT THE SHOES.

Now obviously, these spots are selling “something”: awareness, brand image, the psychology of human experience. But those are all intangible things, not concrete features or benefits. And one could argue based on Nike’s continued success, that right now, those are actually more powerful motivators than the quality of the product itself. The question then becomes: Will there come a point when “ads for art’s sake,” or purely image-based advertising, won’t be enough for an industry leader like Nike to maintain their dominance?

My hunch is to say yes, and my reasoning is based on another titan of their respective industry, Bud Light. Entrenched in the upper tiers of the light beer market, Bud Light now has entire lines of TV advertising devoted solely to entertainment value. In one sense, their only challenge is making sure that the up-and-coming drinkers of the world remember that they exist when they’re getting their college friends to buy beer for them. Don’t believe me? Then I recommend you go back to this 2004 commercial that was the very first commercial shown during the Super Bowl that year:

At the same time, however, there are indicators that Bud Light does still feel a little bit of pressure from their competitors of the market. Hence, the launch of their “Drinkability” campaign, which is actually running parallel to their entertainment line of ads. According to their Web site, “Drinkability” is what separates them from other light beers, and represents ‘the perfect balance of flavor, filling and refreshment. It’s just the right taste the never fills you up and is easy going down.’ Perhaps I’m a little biased because I’m much more partial to microbrews, but that sure sounds like the alcoholic equivalent to rice cakes. (A little ironic, considering they actually use rice in the brewing of their beer.) Regardless it’s (to use a Bud Light adjective) refreshing to see the quality of their beer come front and center in their advertising once again.

It seems anti-climactic to say “Only time will tell whether a revolutionary shoe product will force Nike to bring the actual benefits of their shoes to the forefront of their advertising again,” but the reality is that only time will tell whether a revolutionary shoe product will force Nike to bring the actual benefits of their shoes to the forefront of their advertising again. In my experience, it’s the advertising that blends product benefits and creativity in a truly entertaining way that always seem to get the biggest praise from my friends and family who judge advertising from an outsider’s perspective. And while I don’t begrudge creatives who have the good fortune to be purveyors of “nothing,” I’m excited to see what happens when they have to start playing in a slightly smaller sandbox again.

“We want to do something that no one else has ever done!”

This is what Jeben Berg, creative director of cross-platform solutions for YouTube and Google, told me he hears several times a week from all types of companies.  Imagine being in his shoes, guiding the creative direction of one of the hottest social media platforms, tasked with coming up with the next viral video sensation…everyday.  Sounds pretty daunting.

I had the chance to have dinner with Berg last week when he was in town for a presentation to the Wichita American Marketing Association.  Listening to the challenges and triumphs of his team, my appreciation for the creative process was rekindled.  I am lucky to work with a group of very talented writers and designers.  Sometimes, I take the creative ideas for granted, and I know I shouldn’t do that.

I think it has to do with the nature of the advertising agency business.  The expectations levied upon agencies as being factories for new and innovative ways to reach audiences can lead us to think that great ideas can be manufactured like airplanes and automobiles.  The thing is, there is no great process that logically leads from one step to another and “Boom!” a winning creative idea rolls off the assembly line.

Coming up with good ideas is hard.  And the reality is that getting the idea is only half the battle.  Execution of that idea is just as critical.  Which made me think of those people who are brought an amazing idea and then asked, “How can we make this happen?”  That can be as stressful as having to come up with the idea in the first place.

I guess the point is that great advertising and creative work arrives at the mountaintop on the backs of a talented group of people each contributing their skills, either in creative conceptualizing or execution.  Many things must go right for success, but just a few wrong moves can mean disaster.  Therefore, when we see an ad that strikes us or visit a Web site that seems to get who we are, we should stop for a minute and think of everything that had to happen to bring us to that moment.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Annais.